Laminated snack crackers in steel belts?
Hello.
Has anyone ever tried to make laminated biscuits (snack cracker type) in steel oven band? Besides the blisters that may occur under the dough pieces, any other potential issues related to heat transfer limitation (development, stack height, color, etc.), or other? And, even with these issues, is it possible by any means?
Thanks,
Jose
Dear Jose,
It is possible, however challenging. We've done some savoury products where a solution of different fibers and processing (dough - resting - baking) solved 80% of the checking. The additional part could be solved when applying different techniques in combination with it (think of RF, IR, Microwave), in order to have a better moisture distribution. in between the product.
It's quite the challenge though to find the sweet spot. As mentioned by the others a different oven belt is the easiest choice.
Dear Jose
Baking cracker biscuit in steel belt band is equal to trying encrusted or high fat premium cookies (deposited cookies) in articulated S band. Cracker biscuit which contains more water needs very high heat input and good extraction system to remove the steam generated and control the texture development as well baking requirements. If you do the cracker biscuit in Steel belt moisture removal is not equally possible as in articulated S band, and will have lot of issues in post baking. Residual ammonia, soda, and other leavening agent used in cracker will be there in post baked product as moisture will be more and baking will not completed. There will be lot shelf life issues.
Thanks Srinivasan, good points, as always. I am well aware that the band is not the recommended choice/type for this, and potential issues are many. We were consulted because some factories manage to bake moulded biscuits in solid steel band (with some difficulties). Of course, laminated dough would be, by far, an even worse case, due to the different water, flour and fat amount, not to mention different baking and development requirements.
My question is more like, would this be worth of a trial, or it is clearly impossible? Does anyone know of somebody who managed to do this this, with minor issues?
I really appreciated your comments about the ammonium bicarbonate residual and shelf life, thanks. Do you believe that shelf-life would be shorter because of a higher moisture /non-optimal heat transfer?
Maybe you will have more checking since there will be higher moisture graduation...
It will not be easy.
Maybe increasing the number of small holes distributed in the cracker, or maybe decreasing the dimension (diâmetro or width).
In case you make a trial, consider these alternatives.
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